Chard care home hides 20 crocheted hearts in town treasure hunt

A care home on Furnham Road is turning crochet into a town-wide treasure hunt. Gillingham Grange will hide 20 handmade crocheted hearts across Chard from Monday, May 11, giving local residents a simple reason to walk the town, spot a brightly made heart, and take it home as a keepsake.

The project is built around a clean, repeatable idea: small handmade pieces placed in public, with a prize waiting for anyone who finds one and contacts the home. Gillingham Grange is asking finders to keep the heart rather than return it, then get in touch to claim a prize. The home says people can reach it by phone, email, Facebook Messenger or by visiting in person, making the hunt easy to join for anyone who spots a heart on a bench, along a path or tucked into another corner of Chard.

Amanda Whyte, the general manager at Gillingham Grange, said the residents wanted to bring “a bit of kindness and connection” to people across Chard. That idea gives the crochet a bigger role than decoration alone. Each heart is part of a shared town game, but it is also a small handmade object that can move from the care home into daily life, landing in a pocket, on a mantelpiece or pinned somewhere visible at home.

The timing also fits a wider picture in Chard, where the town council promotes community initiatives that benefit local people and points to services for residents who are housebound, living in long-term care, carers, or people living with long-term conditions or disabilities. The council’s three-year Culturally Chard programme is also working to celebrate local character, culture, history and heritage, while bringing the town centre’s story to life. In that context, the heart hunt feels less like a one-off stunt and more like part of a town where community activity is being used to make everyday life feel more connected.

For crochet groups looking for a model they can lift into their own streets, the structure is straightforward: make a set number of small items, hide them in public, invite the town to collect them, and give people a clear way to respond. In Chard, the result is 20 hearts, one care home, and a small handmade trail through the town that starts on May 11.